Kaoroku's Story
by Genesis Grey
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to that reporter from the first episode? Here's the story in her own words.


::Kaoroku's Story::  
  
  
Nobody crosses Seguchi Tohma.  
  
That was the first thing they told me when I started working at Pop Beat. Even after I became head writer and everyone in the music business wanted to be interviewed by me, my editor told me not to cross NG's president. But I never saw the danger; even after Seguchi and I became friends of a sort I never saw the danger.  
  
He was always smiling and kind, a shrewd businessman and producer. But for the life of me I couldn't imagine how someone so gentle had gotten so far. Even when my friend Mikuro, a writer for a somewhat sleazy tabloid, was fired from his job after writing a story about an alleged affair that Seguchi had with his singer, Sakuma Ryuichi, I never put the two together.  
  
Until now.  
  
It all started with that ASK interview.  
  
Usually I don't interview bands who've never done a major live event and who only have one CD to their name. But the CD had been a big hit and Seguchi had asked me personally to come interview his band. Besides that, I'll admit to finding Aizawa Taki rather attractive. The interview went well and I was impressed by Aizawa's brash attitude and inability to be satisfied, even with the top producer in the business. I really do love a cocky rookie. Tohma and I bantered a bit as I looked up the name of their opening band for the record. He flattered me. I flattered him. And then I heard the name that would ruin my life.  
  
Bad Luck.  
  
Ironic, isn't it?  
  
They weren't anything special back then. Sure, they had musical talent and would probably be signed in a few years, I will admit that. But there was something flat about their sound, something missing. Of course, when Sakuma Ryuichi appeared during their first live concert as ASK opening band and sang with them, they got noticed. The next time I heard them was on a variety quiz show and I noticed immediately they'd added a new member. The flat sound was gone. Still, I didn't pay them much attention. After all they hadn't even released their first single.  
  
Time passed and I didn't think much more about Bad Luck. They weren't special yet and I had other things to do. I was a busy woman in those days.  
  
But one day I got a call from Aizawa Taki. He asked me if I wanted to get the dirt on Bad Luck's singer, Shindou Shuichi, and do him a favor in the process. I should have said no. I had four other deadlines that week. But what can I say? I'm a sucker for a pretty face.  
  
So I met him outside the restaurant. He'd already staked the place out, had a table reserved for us so that we were close but still unobtrusive. We sat down and I could just hear Shuichi and his companion's conversation. It was perfect. Then his companion turned her head and I got a good look at who Shindou was eating with.  
  
I should have listened to the warning bells that went off in my head the second I saw her and left the restaurant immediately. Seguchi Mika.  
  
Not a lot of people know there is a Seguchi Mika. And those that have heard the name often assume her to be a sister or cousin, not the wife of NG's Seguchi Tohma. I only know about her because for a while I was flirting with Seguchi in the hopes of getting a… let's say… more personal interview.  
  
Like I said, I'm a sucker for a pretty face.  
  
It was a party for the new Nittle Grasper tribute album that was coming out. Both Seguchi and Ukai Noriko were the guests of honor. I was covering the event, having just become head writer, so I was walking with Seguchi the entire night. To be honest I'd noticed the brown-haired woman by Ukai. She'd been giving me annoyed looks all night. Not that I gave it much thought. A lot of people were jealous of my job.  
  
Towards the end of the night I decided to make my move. I was a beautiful and successful woman and he was a beautiful and successful man. What could go wrong? I was sure he liked me, after all, most reporters didn't get a second interview with the president of NG and he'd personally invited me to cover the party.  
  
My hand barely brushed his arm when I felt someone slap my hand away, hard, and the brown-haired woman was between us with an angry look on her face. I hadn't even seen her move from Ukai's side. She had this terrifying stone cold glare that chilled me to the bone as she curtly told me to stay away from her husband. Seguchi quietly pulled her to the side and calmed her down. But her eyes stayed on me the entire rest of the night and she didn't leave his side once.  
  
From then on I avoided Seguchi when I saw his wife was around. I could tell she was dangerous. Those eyes were not the eyes of a placid housewife; they were the eyes of someone I did not want to cross. Strangely I thought them a lot like her husband's.  
  
But for some reason I stayed and eavesdropped on the conversation that night. It took me a moment to realize what exactly was being said. Shindou was apparently involved in a relationship with Seguchi Mika's brother, the writer Yuki Eiri. Aizawa had promised me dirt and he delivered.  
  
We left not long after that and I was virtually shaking. This was the scoop of a lifetime. I would never get a chance to break at story like that again. But I knew it would be trouble. I remembered that stone cold glare. I told Aizawa I wouldn't write it. I gave him some lame excuse about my morals not allowing it. Ha. The first thing I gave up when I became a journalist was my morals.  
  
But Aizawa managed to convince me to write it.  
  
He spent an entire night convincing me to write it.  
  
The article was written the next day, complete with pictures and biographies of both Yuki Eiri and Shindou Shuichi. I handed it to my editor and told him to get it in print with the next issue. He knew it would sell and I could see him salivating. Nothing sells better than a homosexual scandal, especially when one of NG's rising stars is involved. Yuki Eiri was just the icing on the cake as they say.  
  
But he raised an eyebrow and asked me if I really wanted him to publish the article. Asked me if I remembered what he'd told me about Seguchi Tohma. I told him to publish it. No one was going to hurt me. I told him Seguchi couldn't be as bad as he had claimed. Besides, no one knew Seguchi was related by marriage to Yuki Eiri. It wouldn't infringe upon his reputation. My editor shook his head and said he's put it in the next issue, but it'd probably be the last thing I ever wrote for Pop Beat.  
  
He was right.  
  
A week later I lost my job and my apartment. No one would speak to me from the magazine when I tried to get answers. Finally one of the interns left me a note: "The editor says you shouldn't have messed with NG." I couldn't get work anywhere. The entertainment business treated me like I was a leper. Finally, I got a job at the tabloid that had fired Mikuro. Someone had taken pity on me.  
  
I fared better than Aizawa though. He ended up in a mental institution for about a year and ASK's promising career was ruined. No one even remembers them now. They're just another bunch of nobodies while the band that opened for them is topping the charts in a musical rivalry with Nittle Grasper.  
  
Taki came and saw me a few months ago.  
  
He was a lot calmer. He has a job as a manager at a burger joint not to far from the place I live. We got to talking and he told me about what happened to him. His assaulting Shindou, going to Yuki's apartment, and even being confronted by Seguchi.   
  
I was disgusted. With him. With myself. And I was afraid too.  
  
For the first time I understood why everyone warned me about Seguchi. Why everyone feared him. Why the frigid and terrifying eyes of his wife were so much like his own. He and the woman with the stone cold glare were a better match than I thought.  
  
I realized that it was Seguchi that had ended my career. He probably only needed one phone call to end it all. I was suddenly glad that I still had my life. Sometimes I wonder if he lifted the curse off my name in the name of the friendship I thought we had. But then I wonder if he didn't and he's still out to get me. That thought keeps me awake at night.  
  
I curse the day I met NG's president and I curse the day I got the job at Pop Beat.  
  
But I learned something important from my experiences.  
  
Nobody crosses Seguchi Tohma.  
  
---  
Author's Notes: I always wondered what happened to Kaoroku (that's how her name is spelled in my subs) so I thought I'd write a story about it from her point of view. And tah-dah! here you have it. Thoughts? Feelings? Flames? Feedback is always cherished. Help me become a better writer than I am today. :)  



End file.
